Apart from the mainline, Pentecostal, and Zionist churches, there are different types of African Independent/Indigenous Churches (AIC). The greater part of the more than four thousand denominations and eight million adherents came into the AIC during the past three decades, mainly from the traditional African religious background. The important role of the diviner in the traditional society has been replaced by the prophet in the AIC; the prophet understands the worldview of his/her people, especially the cultural diseases. In some churches the office of prophet cum diviner is represented by one person. The AIC movement is the most dynamic church movement in many parts of Africa, especially Southern Africa. The consistent growth of these churches can largely be accounted for by the healing procedures they use, which ar highlighted in this study. Dr. Oosthuizen approaches healing from various angles, as sickness is not only determined by physical and psychological factors, but also by disturbed human relationships and socio-political and economic tensions.

Publisher description

Over the last two decades, the implosion of economies under the burden of debt, the negative repercussions of structural adjustment programs, the crisis of legitimacy, civil wars, and the collapse of some states have resulted in serious health issues across the African continent. Newly emerging diseases, such as Ebola virus and HIV/AIDS have killed and disabled millions. Some “old diseases,” such as yellow fever, tuberculosis, and polio have reappeared. Malaria, cholera, and meningitis continue to kill thousands. In many countries, the medical infrastructure has collapsed, while an increasing number of physicians and nurses have migrated to more hospitable places. Stigmatization of the affected people has exacerbated social and racial discrimination and has affected the implementation of national and international public health programs. The complexity of the situation requires an interdisciplinary approach. This collection, including contributions by historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and biologists, emphasizes the social and cultural contexts of African health, paying particular attention to the history of the colonial public health system and its legacy.

In 1910 Isaiah Shembe was struggling. He had left his family and quit his job as a sanitation worker to become a Baptist evangelist, but he ended his first mission without much to show. Little did he know that he would soon establish the Nazaretha Church as he began to attract attention from people left behind by industrial capitalism in South Africa. By his death in 1935, Shembe was an internationally known prophet and healer, described by his peers as “better off than all the Black people.” In A Prophet of the People: Isaiah Shembe and the Making of a South African Church, historian Lauren V. Jarvis provides a fascinating and intimate portrait of one of South Africa’s most famous religious figures, and in turn the making of modern South Africa. Following Shembe from his birth in the 1860s across many environments and contexts, Jarvis illuminates the tight links between the spread of Christianity, strategies of evasion, and the capacious forms of community that continue to shape South Africa today.

First published in 2003. This pioneering new book surveys the political thought of a selection of influential black thinkers in provocative exploration of the black radical tradition as it has evolved in the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States. Each chapter focuses on key figures or social movement including the slave Cugoano, the American anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, C.L.R. James, W.E.B Du Bois, former leader of the anti-colonial movement in Tanzania Julius Nyerere, Walter Rodney, the political philosophy of Rastafari, and the activist-musician Bob Marley. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of radical black thought and the development of an activist political tradition.

This book presents an African Christian movement full of vitality and creativity. The reader will meet believers who drink milk so that they may dream about angels, reports about funerals where the mourners dance with the coffin on their shoulders and church members who are ritually not allowed to fertilize their fields or wear neck ties. The authors unique insight into Malawis Christian community addresses important issues in society. Why have Spirit Churches, including Pentecostalism, been so successful in Malawi? Why do some religious groups still refuse medical help, up to the point that children die of cholera? How did the independent churches deal with the colonial trauma? In this masterful portrait, Strohbehn takes the reader from industrial mine compounds to rural colonies, where churches have set up their own spiritual and political rule. He carefully dissects the fine lines between traditional notions and Christianitys influence. We find a spiritual portrait of the Ngoni people, a fascinating cultural analysis of dancing and an encounter with a unique style of preaching.

This study of William Marrion Branham's ministry reveals much about the healing methodology of deliverance evangelists. Branham's theology of healing highlights the widely accepted role of evangelists as mediators between God and the afflicted. The dynamic growth of Pentecostalism in the twentieth century is a major feature of the modern religious scene. Branham is acknowledged as a leader of the healing revival movement. Although little known outside of the Pentecostal movement, his work had tremendous influence on today's televangelists and the whole of Pentecostalism itself.